Sunday, February 26, 2012

Taissoun

Quick report on the Ronde du Taissoun, in Colomars just behind Nice. Usually, this place gives a great vantage point to look over Nice and the entire Cote D'Azur. This time though, after a lung bursting hike/pedal through the fog we got treated to a different view which, as you might have noticed from the pictures, was absolutely phenomenal.

While on the short side of the enduro spectrum, at about 26km, this was a ridiculously punishing event. Each of the three stages required a hike a bike section, resulting in searing hot legs. Added to that was the fact that all the stages were extremely rough and physical, with a relatively large amount of uphill sprints required. The first two stages went pretty well, I came in 25th and 26th out of about 80 riders despite 2 falls in the first stage, and several mistakes in the second from coming into corners too fast or simply not seeing turns in time.

I was pretty pumped for the third stage which I know very well from many spins with LeChris, and which was by far the longest and most physical, two aspects which played to my strengths. After a good top section, I got to the section I had been fearing all day: le GR. A wide, flat hiking trail, which doesnt sound too bad, but the problem is it is pretty easy to hit ludicrous speeds on it as it alternates between smoothish for 20-30m followed by extremely rough for 5-10m, and many a tube and tyre have fallen victim to this section, which I now slow down considerably for. But this was a race, so F--k that! Full speed ahead, I was gliding over the rough sections like they wern't there, until I heard a horrible noise which I assumed was my tyre exploding but turned out to be my derailleur, derailleur hanger and gear cable all snapping at once... To add insult to injury, as I mentioned previously this stage had a very long uphill/flat section a few minutes later, meaning I had to push the bike for a good 10 minutes without even being able to coast...

Fun day overall, a proper challenge. Team mate Anthony and regular competitor Seb both posted impressive results in some of the stages and ended up in the top twenty overall, it would have been nice to see where I would have ended up without the mechanical. Oh well, time to peruse chainreaction for some drivetrain components...